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How to Spice Up Perfectly Good (but Boring) Scenes
In my work-in-progress, I’m studying a scene to see if I can tighten it in any way. It’s a perfectly good scene. The characters go to a jewelry store. The protagonist’s mother has a birthday next week and he’s got to find a suitable gift. In the jewelry store, they pick up a crucial clue…
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Rough Out a Scene: Goals, DOs, DON’Ts, and the Writing
Lately, I’ve taken to roughing out a scene before I start writing. Rough Out a Scene: Goals I want to be excited to write the scene. I’m looking for the sparks, the exciting bits of this particular scene. Finding this early is helpful because I don’t waste time slogging through extraneous stuff. Instead, I can…
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Grand Entrance: Pay Attention to This Character
How do you introduce your character to your reader? Do you give the character a grand entrance or sneak them in while the reader is focused on something else? A grand entrance signals to the reader that this is a character they should pay attention to. Let’s talk about some ways to make this happen.…
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Does Your Scene Pivot: Creating Turning Points
I’m revising my WIP novel one scene at a time and finding places where I need to do lots of work. Specifically, I want scenes that pivot. A scene is self-contained section of the story. Characters come into a scene with a goal and they either reach their goal or not. The scene should have…
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Where Am I? Setting the Scene
I’ve been reading lots of manuscripts lately and a common problem keeps arising. As a reader, I keep wondering, “Where am I?” The plot and characters are often interesting, but I’m lost. I need a map to figure out where I am. In other words, setting is crucial to keeping your readers grounded in your…
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Fight, Chase, Shoot, Battle! Action Scene Checklist
Darcy’s Note: In my quest to understand action scenes better, I came across Ian’s book and was blown away by how practical it is. To make it even more practical I created an Action Scenes Checklist. To understand it and fully exploit it, you should buy his book and read it cover to cover. Yes,…